L.A. BabyCakes Blog

Moon & Stars Baby Shower

Thursday, February 18th, 2010 | How To | No Comments

If you don’t know by now, I love BAKING!  I think it’s that I love being creative and love having a good challenge.  One of my favorites to follow is Martha Stewart.  Now I now she has a full time staff who gather new ideas for her show, website, etc., but I simply love this woman.  She’s great when I need some inspiration.  I recently ran across a recipe for an adorable cake she created – Stars-and-Moon cake.  It’s just precious and I thought it would fit perfectly with a Moon and Stars diaper cake I created for a client.  The whole theme is a precious idea for a baby shower.  I checked out the recipe.  Although it doesn’t seem too difficult, I would imagine it may be a bit time consuming….so as a warning…I would mix the batter and chill a day ahead just so you’re nice and fresh to begin the time consuming fun!    Here’s the recipe from Martha’s site:

Directions

1. Sift flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl. Mix butter and brown and granulated sugars on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
2. Divide dough into quarters; shape into squares. Wrap each in plastic; refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Working with 1 square at a time, roll out dough between pieces of lightly floured parchment to 12-inch square, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer on parchment to baking sheet; freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut dough into rounds with 2 1/4-inch cutter and into moon and stars with shaped cutters.(You will need 75 rounds for the cake; use remaining dough as desired.) If dough becomes too soft, freeze for a few minutes. Space cookies 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
4. Bake until centers are firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.
5. Beat cream and confectioners’ sugar until soft peaks form.
6. Lay 15 cookies in an 8-inch circle, overlapping edges slightly to fill the circle. Spread with about 11/4 cups whipped cream. Repeat, making 5 layers. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or up to 1 day.
7. Tint royal icing as desired. To frost moon and star cookies, pipe icing around edges; pipe zigzags to fill in, and spread with small offset spatula. Let stand until set, 1 to 2 hours. Serve cake, garnished with moon and star cookies.

Looks dreamy right?  This cake would also be great for a child’s birthday party as well.  And you can’t forget the wonderful DIAPER “cake” to go along with your edible one.  This Moon and Stars diaper cake comes complete with the wonderful classic “Goodnight Moon” which is a must for any child’s library.

Sweet Dreams!!!

*For more information or diaper cake ideas, click the “quick buy” or “custom cakes” option above, or visit www.la-babycakes.com

Tags: baby shower, cake, cakes, diaper cake, martha stewart, moon, stars

Basic Baby Shower Cake Ideas

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 | How To | No Comments

Who doesn’t love cake?!?!  A beautifully designed cake is a must have at any baby shower.  Today we’re going to explore some options for great cakes for your basic baby shower.  In the coming weeks, we will be adding more theme ideas along with great cakes that would accompany each theme.

Baby Block

This cake is quite versatile and can be simple or super fancy, depending on what you want.  Martha Stewart has a great recipe for this style of cake.  I’ll give her recipe and also give a simpler, quicker version for those of you who prefer the easy route.  Martha’s recipe gives you the basics on decorating the cake with both buttercream icing and fondant on white sheet cake.  You can explore her site to find the recipe to create the sheet cake, icing, and fondant, or you can buy it pre-made.  Here is her recipe Martha’s Baby Block Cake.  Even if you opt out of her recipe, it’s great to use some of the ideas in your own recipe.  A quicker option is to buy either a sheet cake or a pound cake.  A chilled pound cake will be much easier to work with when cutting it to your desired shape.  A pound cake is great for making miniature baby block cakes if you’d like for each guest to have their own.

Select a frosting with a thicker consistency so that it’s easier to work with.  Typically “whipped” frostings are more likely to get messed up with the slightest touch.  Choosing a white color frosting will offer versatility if you choose to use food coloring to match your frosting color to the colors of the baby shower.  You may also experiment with various frosting tips to find one you like most.  Using a tip to outline the edges of each baby block and to draw letters or numbers on the cake will really make them pop.  Cake or specialty stores are a great place to find tips, frosting bags, and even candies for decoration.

Baby Bootie Cake

Another super cute cake idea!  I first saw these on Martha Stewart’s website which has a great video to accompany the recipe.  Yes…I am a Martha fan!  I’ve since found a similar recipe from Ms. Betty Crocker herself.  I’ll give you both links so you have a step by step guide to create these cakes.  Again, these are the perfect size to give each guest their own cake.  Or you can create just a pair of the booties to be placed atop a larger round or sheet cake too!  To do this, pour cake mix into 3 cupcake tins and use the rest of the mix for your larger cake.  For Martha’s Baby Bootie cake recipe and video, click here.  For Betty Crocker’s recipe instructions, click here.  Again, as a time saver you can buy your icing pre-made and add food coloring for your desired affect.

Baby Carriage Cake

This cute little number is easier to make than it appears.  I’ve actually made this cake for a friend’s shower (not the image posted above).  My easy recipe is as follows.  Pick up favorite cake mix from the store!  Mix cake mix and pour mix into 2 cupcake tins and the remainder in a round cake pan and bake.  Once baked and cooled, remove from pans.  Slice off the very tops of the large round cake and cupcakes to make a smooth top.  Using the above image as a guide, cut a portion out of the large round cake.  Attach the cupcakes to the larger cake using frosting and frost entire cake with store bought icing in whichever flavor or color you desire.  You may using various frosting tips to outline and create carriage image and wheel spokes.  A nice touch is to add the baby’s name if known.

Pacifier Cake

I recently attended a baby shower which had a variety of cupcakes, one of which was made to resemble a baby’s face with a pacifier (binky) in it’s mouth.  Very cute!  That cupcake was simple to make in that you frost as desired, making dots for the eyes and nose and inserting a baby’s pacifier towards the bottom of the “face” – as shown in the above photo.  This is another option to the baby cake shown above.  The cake above is made by using to round cake pans and a lot of creative decorating with the icing.  Using fondant will give the cake a smoother appearance and help with building up features such as the baby feet.  Cutting a bit into the cake or cupcake will help in inserting the pacifier.

If you’d like to make the whole process a wee bit easier, just go out and buy a cake and sit back and relax.

Happy Creating!!!

Tags: baby shower, baby shower cakes, cake, cakes